Broken Lift, 5th Floor flat, disabled

Tall_Masaai

Hello All,
I reside on top/5th floor with my family. Just before May we had 2 electric outages which left the lift broken. It was reported to the LL (Housing association) on the 1st of May. No news until when chased up the LL agents said the lift was fixed on the 10th (it wasn't) and the case closed. When this was pointed out a new case was raised. A complaint was also raised and now the lift is supposed to be repaired sometime this week or next. Complaint handler has come back stating all of the above and offering compensation of £100. However I am not happy as I want them to take this more seriously and get their fingers burnt so that they respond more quickly in the future and do thorough checks in the future to verify if the repairs have been completed satisfactorily or not. Here is why...I am diabetic and have high Cholesterol, my 2 daughters have Asthma and both with their mom have genetic legs' disorder. My wife is on crutches and has had to negotiate stairs at least 4 times due to having to go for her appointments. My older (asthmatic) daughter has a tumour behind her right knee and has had to tackle the stairs at least twice a day as she is in last year of college. My youngest (asthmatic) has the same genetic condition but not operated yet as she is too young but again she has to climb up and down the stairs about twice a day. Now I really want to know what my options are legally or otherwise. I really feel that the Housing association is being laid back about this and want them to suffer...and obviously fix the lift asap. Any suggestions? Thanks

housebuyer143

I'm not sure making them "suffer" will do much. The people who are actually dealing with it are just the call staff and are likely just working on information they have been told. 
If you are not happy with the resolution, ask to escalate it further but that aside, if a lift is so essential, is it worth looking to move to a ground floor flat? I appreciate it's taken them a long time but it might be something that isn't easy to fix? 
The lift in the council car park I work at had no light for 3 weeks, even though it's manned so they knew right away. You would think it would be easy to fix it but potentially there is more behind the scenes that you don't know about. 

tacpot12

You could talk to a solicitor about the possibility of suing the HA. If other residents can join your claim, it's value should make the HA pay attention. Even the threat of legal action, if realistic, could get some management attention on fixing the lift quickly enough to avoid or at least mitigate against any legal action.

Asking the HA to rehouse your family while the lift isn't working doesn't seem unreasonable if family members can't manage the stairs. 

BarelySentientAI

Could well be tied up in insurance investigations if there's any potential of recovering repair costs from a third party.  It isn't the HA's fault if that is the case.

Spare parts for some lifts take weeks or even months to arrive.  It isn't the HA's fault if that's the case.

And talking about wanting them to "suffer" and "get their fingers burnt" is unlikely to get any sort of sensible discourse or resolution.

deannagone

I agree, asking for a move to a ground floor property - listing the family's disabilities and the dates/length of time the lift has been non working would be a more positive thing to progress to.  Lift repairs are more complicated than it seems.

DullGreyGuy

BarelySentientAI said:

Spare parts for some lifts take weeks or even months to arrive.  It isn't the HA's fault if that's the case.

And talking about wanting them to "suffer" and "get their fingers burnt" is unlikely to get any sort of sensible discourse or resolution.

We moved into brand new offices last year, there are 8 lifts serving our floor and circa 32 lifts in the building in total. After a few weeks of being in 4 of our lifts were taken out of order after a serious fault was found in a component in one of them and it was decided that the 4 lifts that share the same component all need it replacing (why 4 out of 32 have it no idea). They said the first one would be back in 4 months time and the other 3 its likely to be 9-12 months as there is only 1 spare components available.

Lifts are great when they work but crazy expensive and difficult to fix when they break. 

In the UK punitive damages are illegal, you can only sue someone or a company for what your actual loss is and so there the only way to "make them suffer" or "burn them" is if you have genuinely sustained a major loss and realistically if that happens their liability insurance will kick in. Yes their insurance would go up a bit in the future but thats just a cost passed on to tenants anyway. 

Echo other's comments that it's not a prudent choice for people with mobility issues to be living on the 5th floor if you have any choice in the matter. 

RHemmings

housebuyer143 said:

I'm not sure making them "suffer" will do much. The people who are actually dealing with it are just the call staff and are likely just working on information they have been told. 
If you are not happy with the resolution, ask to escalate it further but that aside, if a lift is so essential, is it worth looking to move to a ground floor flat? I appreciate it's taken them a long time but it might be something that isn't easy to fix? 
The lift in the council car park I work at had no light for 3 weeks, even though it's manned so they knew right away. You would think it would be easy to fix it but potentially there is more behind the scenes that you don't know about. 

What's behind the scenes isn't the concern of the tenant in the flat. It's the responsibility of others to get things fixed. Neither should the tenant have to find different accommodation because the landlord and freeholder are remiss in their maintenance obligations. 

I saw some legal opinion that for a tall building without a working lift, that may lead to the flat being classified as not fit for human habitation under the Landlord and Tenant Act (1985). https://www.msbsolicitors.co.uk/is-a-landlord-legally-responsible-to-fix-a-broken-lift-for-a-tenant/

It might be worth reporting this issue to environmental health. Note that since this is a building with multiple flats, there's a possibility (depending on other circumstances) that your complaint can be kept anonymous.  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/repairs-and-housing-conditions/repairs-and-housing-conditions/getting-help-from-the-local-authority/local-authority-help-with-repairs-housing-health-and-safety-rating-system/

BarelySentientAI

RHemmings said:

Neither should the tenant have to find different accommodation because the landlord and freeholder are remiss in their maintenance obligations. 

That they are remiss is yet to be established.

Having maintenance obligations =/= everything is working at all times or fixed within minutes when it breaks.

RHemmings

BarelySentientAI said:

RHemmings said:

Neither should the tenant have to find different accommodation because the landlord and freeholder are remiss in their maintenance obligations. 

That they are remiss is yet to be established.

Having maintenance obligations =/= everything is working at all times or fixed within minutes when it breaks.

The OP makes it look fairly certain that 'remiss' applies. They did offer the OP compensation, but only £100. The description of events with repairs that didn't happen and the time span certainly say 'remiss' to me. 

BarelySentientAI

Yes, the OP makes it look certain, but they often do.

A call handler saying "next week" isn't much of a guarantee, as they would probably have no idea about the actual repair process and just want to reassure someone that they'll get off the phone.

RHemmings

BarelySentientAI said:

Yes, the OP makes it look certain, but they often do.

A call handler saying "next week" isn't much of a guarantee, as they would probably have no idea about the actual repair process and just want to reassure someone that they'll get off the phone.

Well, any post on any forum could be different from reality. But, I have no reason to believe that the OP in this thread is. And, I would expect it to be reasonable for any repair process to result in the lift being quickly repaired and a long-lasting repair.